Sweet Stout Recipe

[Cronessa]

First time using S04 and I'm still getting action through the air lock 11 days after adding it (about every 5 - 10 minutes). Normally it's well over by now.

Fermentation started about an hour after addition (which was super quick) and then I got quite a vigorous ferment but not over the top.

Fermented at about 19 degrees for first 4 days then dropped to 16 - 17c - I know that's on the cool side but damn.

Is this a quirk of the yeast? Time to rig up the temp controlled heat belt methinks.

 

[gap]

Measure your gravity.
Air lock activity is not necessarily a sign of fermentation.
You may have CO2 coming out of solution causing the airlock to bubble.
Measure your gravity over the next few days and if stable and within expected range
it should mean fermentation is finished.

 

[Cronessa]

True. Thanks for that gap.

 

[Cronessa]

Gravity is currently 1.033 - obviously way too high even with the lactose.

I think I'll try wacking the heat belt on and try and get the temperature up. At least it gave me an opportunity to taste it, pretty tasty even at this stage.

 

[Cronessa]

Sorry for bumping the thread again.

My gravity is still over 1.030, still getting action through the airlock although the gravity reading would suggest its probably stopped fermenting.

Any ideas what I may have done wrong so I can learn for next time? The only things I can think of is that my mash temp may have been a little high at 69C and my fermentation temp may have got a bit low - it was 19C for the first 3-4 days whilst fermentation was very active but then it stayed between 16 - 18C (may have gotten to 15.8C for short periods). My hydrometer (new this batch) also appears to be reading about 1.006 with filtered water so my current SG may be around 1.024.

The other thing that concerns me is how beersmith handles lactose. Removing the lactose from my recipe actually INCREASES the expected FG from 1.014 to 1.016? I'm not sure I trust the expected readings generated by beersmith in this instance. Seems to be a bit of debate online about it also.

Silly question but would the batch be safe to prime and bottle if the SG is the same on the weekend? I plan to put some into a small keg I have (which would obviously be safer) but will probably have a litre of two left over.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: should also say that it tastes very nice. Perhaps a little bit sweet but that could be the lactose. It certainly doesn't taste like undiluted cordial or anything.

 

[fortmonty]

Hi mate .

I have been following this thread any update on how it all went ?

 

[Cronessa]

Hi fortmonty, I ended up brewing the same batch again but with Nottingham yeast. Finished a few points lower but talking to folks on another forum I think the problem was that I didn't oxygenate the wort sufficiently before adding the yeast. I reckon I'd also drop the lactose by 50 grams or so.

Thanks for following the thread - feel free to ask any questions